


Echo du Temps

by orphan_account



Series: Vampire AU-Second Storyline [3]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25925365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Deniss finally went back into the castle, hoping to help in the restoration project. Memories came back as he stepped into the place once he called home.
Series: Vampire AU-Second Storyline [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895323
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	Echo du Temps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zireael (Tor_Zireael)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tor_Zireael/gifts).



> Another mid-night unbeta'd writing.  
> Thanks to [romulua](https://archiveofourown.org/users/romulua/) for the prompt. Hopefully I did it justice.  
> Title means 'echo of time'.

Deniss took a deep breath as he stood at the bridgehead. The old wooden bridge was so run-down that there were visible gaps on it; the stone-built castle, however, was largely unchanged throughout these years.

He was invited by the staff in charge of renovation to help with it. Despite his very busy schedule, he immediately said yes. He really couldn’t wait to be back in the castle again, too visit the place once he called home, to step into the remnants of the past. He walked through the metal bridge which was built next to the old one for temporary access, stood in the front of the main gate for a while – whose keys had been long lost – and knocked on the side gate.

A lady welcomed him. They exchanged pleasantries, and she thanked Deniss for taking his time to help in this project.

“It’s my honor, madame,” He smiled, “After all, I still have a lot of great memories about this place.”

“Call me Céline, please.” The lady walked Deniss into the courtyard, “We have been thinking how to present this castle – of course, with the people and stories behind it – to the world. And we don’t think we can find a person who knows it better than you.”

Deniss followed her into the little office, situated in the original guardhouse of the castle. “We have a plan of the castle which was borrowed from the archives. But we aren’t sure if that’s the complete and up-to-date version,” Céline opened a file, “I think this dates back to the 18th century.”

“The most up-to-date version that I know of,” Deniss pondered for a while, “should be in the office on second floor. But I cannot remember its exact location, though.” He did not go into the office that often, apart from getting some books on a particular shelf to read. The office was filled with important papers, and the least thing he wanted to do was to make a mess out of it and cause trouble for Chris and Stéphane when they needed documents for work.

“Ah, it would be very useful indeed.” Céline noted it down, “In fact, we’re planning to do something with the office. The national archive and library might be interested in some old documents about the Treaty and the whole system under it.”

Deniss stared at her file and the old ground plan on the first page. “That would be…great.” He breathed a long exhale, “I think they would…appreciate it.”

Céline stopped flipping through pages and looked at Deniss. He didn’t say who ‘they’ referred to. She thought he meant the libraries and archive in the first instance, but she wasn’t sure. The vampire had a melancholy tone, and she realized that Deniss might been referring to Chris and Stéphane.

“Sorry, I was carried away for a while,” Deniss broke the silence, “I tried to think where the map might be…but I don’t have a clue. The only thing I know is that it exists. I might not even have seen it, I can’t remember. But they have told me about its existence.”

“And,” Céline continued, “we’ve not really started going into the castle for renovation. We’ve just been taking care of the grounds, doing some basic cleaning and safety checks to make sure nothing is falling apart…so we don’t really know about it yet. If you have a bit of time today, maybe you could…tell us something about it?”

Deniss smiled. “It would be my pleasure,” he said, “do you want me to go with this ground plan?”

“It’s…” the lady hesitated, “I thought it would be good, but since this isn’t the most accurate one, would you mind if we go inside?”

Deniss’s heart started to pound as she suggested it. He had to take a deep breath to calm himself down, and told himself not to get overly excited for stepping into the rooms. “It would be…great.” He said. But a voice was simply screaming inside him, “you’re going home”.

Deniss led Céline across the first courtyard. “Front courtyard,” He said, “there used to be a little garden…for flowers.” He pointed to the right, which was now only a patch of soil with weeds wildly growing, “when I lived here, there were mainly peonies and roses. They probably also have some herbs in little pots, as well.” Stéphane love roses. Deniss thought about watching his mentor from the rooms above in the morning, seeing him watering and taking care of the garden, and occasionally picking some to place in the vases around the castle.

He turned left and walked into the great hall. “Well, I mean, this might have been the main hall in the very very early days.” He said, “but I…when I was here, I don’t think it’s used that often. We – I mean, they – mainly lived upstairs in the smaller rooms, and this was probably only used once in my memory. When two of their friends were getting married, they offered this hall for them to host the guests.”

“Lived upstairs?” Céline looked around the hall and noted it down on her book, “Well, actually…in our original proposal, we thought about keeping some of the ‘living area’ as it is, and use some other space as exhibition galleries to explain the history.”

“I think this hall would be a good place if that’s the plan.” Deniss looked up the ceiling, “This is not used that much.” It was too spacious for only three people.

Deniss walked her through the other two small halls – similarly, not really used – and walked down the stone stairs down to the arsenal in the cellar. “Well, this part.” Deniss smiled as he saw the place, “A nightmare for yearly cleaning.”

Céline gasped as she looked around the cellar. “Is this…a dungeon? Torture chamber?”

“Might be in the early days, in the Middle Ages or something.” Deniss walked towards a weird chair, “I’ve asked Chris why he still kept these things and let them gather dust. He said that, maybe one day he’ll donate them to some sort of history museum…but now the castle is turning into a museum.” He watched the shocked expression fading away from the lady’s face, “I don’t know what most of these things are for. Chris might know…but I think the best bet is a historian. Or probably it’s possible to find a book about these in the office.”

“I think that’s the ‘living area’ that you’re referring to.” Deniss stopped at the inner courtyard, “This part is more compact than the first part, and…oh, by the way,” He pointed to the gate between two courtyards, “there has never been a lockable door, not when I was here. I don’t think there’s even a door here at all.”

This part hardly differs from that in his memory, only that the surfaces were covered in dust, and there was some moss at the base of the staircase. It can get really wet on the lake.

“I think they chose to stay upstairs because it’s drier.” Deniss murmured, “Or perhaps to keep fit by climbing stairs? I wasn’t sure.”

He remembered that spiral staircase. He walked down this very staircase with Stéphane when he woke up in the castle, whom he thought was simply a food item or a pet kept by the owner of the castle. He even remembered the lantern Stéphane had in hand.

“Here,” he gestured to a bedroom, “this was their bedroom – or maybe you can call it a master bedroom.” He stepped into it with Céline and stared at the bed. The beddings were still on it, but the textiles had turned into a light yellow color with time. It might also have become brittle after a hundred years. But he woke up on this bed. Chris and Stéphane let him rest on this warm and soft bed when they rescued him from the mountains and fed him – with Stéphane’s own blood – and everything in his life changed from that night on. He learnt to live with other species. He had a family. He learnt to speak the languages used by other species.

“And…the office.” Deniss peeked into the room, “I think everything should be kept in a good order, after all, Chris used this room most often. I know…in this bookcase,” he pointed to the one near the window, “there were a lot of stuff related to the original treaty and the amendments after that, with Chris’s annotations. I used to read them when I tried to understand what is happening in the human world, and it really helps. Maybe the national library would be interested in them?”

Céline’s face practically lit up. “Original treaty with annotations?” She repeated, “I’m sure the library would happy to find them!”

Deniss smiled at her reaction. “A big fan of the Treaty?”

“Oh well,” she rubbed her nose to calm herself down, “I used to read a lot about it…because I was told it’s such a bad idea to have it in the first place, you know, and the trouble caused by it. I just felt something didn’t click. But the Treaty itself is so difficult to read.”

“Chris said the exact same thing when I asked him about it,” Deniss kept his gaze on the bookcase, “He told me it’s written in such a terrible language style and outdated vocabulary.” He tried to read the original again at Carolina’s place when the three of them stayed at hers during Stéphane’s transition, and it was still horribly difficult.

“I don’t know where the keys for these drawers are, though.” Deniss pointed to the desk, “I think they used to keep the working documents inside. But even you can find the keys…probably the lock would have rusted.”

“And here…I know they kept some photo albums, cards and letters in this box.” Deniss bowed down near a black wooden chest, “I have no idea how they would do with time…like all the ink, or if it would be of any use. But this is probably the most personal part in their office.” He knew that he would be in some photos inside this box, and he wouldn’t be surprised if the color had faded. Time.

“I used to sleep in this smaller bedroom…well, please don’t judge me, I know it’s in a chaotic state.” Deniss scrunched as he saw it, “We left in a hurry, and I was…um, packing, and didn’t have time to restore the order in the room.”

It wasn’t the best part of his memory. He left the castle with Stéphane and lived in a small apartment in the outskirts, which Stéphane told him that it was kindly provided by someone they could trust. He knew the human government were after Stéphane for sure, and he was becoming easily agitated, even paranoid. He remembered Stéphane hugging him and telling him that it would be difficult, but it would eventually be okay, until they finally found a chance to leave town and head south into the mountains.

“…kitchen, dining room and living room.” Deniss walked down the staircase to the lower level, “I thought it’s very unusual for a castle to have such an open-plan place, but Stéphane later told me that it was something like a dining hall before. They re-furbished it into this.”

And this is the best part of his memory. Vampire had a very limited menu to choose from, but the three of them loved to experiment with food. Although most of the time, Stéphane would be the only one to actually eat what they made, and they would pack the remaining portions for Stéphane to take to work and to give his colleagues. There were silly festive decorations in the appropriate seasons, singing and reading sessions by the fireplace in the winter, and minty iced drinks in the summer.

“They did have all the modern appliances,” Deniss said, “it’s…not that far back.” He said with a low voice, trying to convince himself. But it had already been a hundred years. The vampire man who saved him in an icy cold winter night had passed away long time ago. Stéphane didn’t let him watch the TV news broadcast on some days, but he did notice the man’s long silence in those days.

And Stéphane, the human who saved him with his own blood, had been guiding him in the past hundred years. He sometimes felt he was in the little chalet in the valley yesterday, but now, he’s pretty certain that his mentor had also left him. He tried very hard not to be sad, since it might well have been his mentor’s own conscious choice, the final rest that he deserved.

“That’s pretty much of the living area…and there are two watchtowers behind.” Deniss gestured to the last courtyard, “I don’t know much about them, and they weren’t in use a hundred years ago. I think Chris told me that it was once used for surveillance and defense, since the owners – I mean, the owners long before Chris – were of a novel family, and they have control around the lake. I’m not sure if there’s any document about his family and ancestors in the office, he’s never mentioned anything about it. And he doesn’t…I mean, didn’t like to talk about his family at all.”

Deniss hated it when he had to change it to past tense. It took him sometime to speak about Chris using past tense and to accept the fact that he’s no longer with them. Even after all these years, sometimes he still used, or misused, the present tense. Now he had to do it again with Stéphane. It’s difficult to change it when you’ve been using the present tense for more than a hundred years.

He walked with Céline back into the office. Céline thanked him and promised to keep him updated, while he kept an appropriate smile and told her that it was really his pleasure to help with this project. “Also…I’m not sure if this project includes the other side? I mean, the area on the shore close to the castle?” Deniss asked.

“The environs? I think it’s included in the castle grounds, but only within fifty meters around the castle itself or the bridge.” Céline replied, “Is there anything of interest?”

Deniss looked out of the window. “That part of lakeshore…well, just next to the bridge,” he said, “has a fantastic view of the lake and mountain view.” He smiled as he thought about the evening barbeques and star-gazing at waterfront, “I mean…if you want a resting area or an outdoor area, it probably is a good place. And,” he pressed a palm to his breast pocket, feeling the small package of necklace against his chest, “There is a wooden walkway down there. The view is pretty…breathtaking.”

He finally said goodbye to Céline, and walked out of the castle into the night. The weather wasn’t that good, and there’s no moon nor stars could be seen.

“I’m back.” He stood on the waterfront and whispered, “I…Isn’t it good news?”


End file.
